


The Bear Who Ate The Sun

by yarroway



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Delirium, Gen, Heat Stroke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 07:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3758809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yarroway/pseuds/yarroway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which it's summer, and Wilson goes for a run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bear Who Ate The Sun

Wilson's feet pounded the pavement as he ran. His sweaty shirt clung to his body. His hair no longer dripped sweat down his face, though, and that worried him in a distant kind of way. It was hot and his head hurt. Wilson gritted his teeth. No pain, no gain, he reminded himself, and kept going.

********************

Wilson felt dizzy and confused, and the pain in his head didn't help. Even though he ran this route every day, he had to check the street signs to be sure of where he was. House's apartment was nearby. Wilson decided to cut his run short and go there to cool off. He started in what he hoped was the right direction. The ground seemed to heave beneath his feet. He admitted to himself that running in this heatwave probably wasn't the best idea he'd ever had.

***********************************************

The boat dipped and rose in the choppy waves. Wilson felt seasick and leaned over the rail to throw up.

"Cut that out," said the bear. "Lie down."

It was a big grizzly bear. Ursus arctos horribilis. Bear bear horrible. Emphasis on the horrible. Wilson backed away slowly.

"Don't hurt me," he pleaded. He wished he'd brought some bear spray on board, but he never thought he'd need it on a boat.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the bear said, frowning. "Lie down or you'll fall."

Wilson didn't want to make the bear angry, so he lay down. The waves were rougher here. He was glad the bear had made him get away from the side before he fell overboard.

Wilson rolled onto his stomach and felt immediately exhausted. This, he realized, was the most comfortable boat he'd ever been on. He just wished the water weren't so rough. In a minute he'd have to trim the sails, but he was so tired. He'd just close his eyes for a moment. The bear could steer the boat.

**************************************************

It was hot. Had Julie turned the thermostat up again? It was sweltering here. A buzzing swarm of bees with parasols flew past happily enough, but the snakes and skunks were panting in the sun. If he had some water he'd share it with them, but he didn't. He was thirsty. He'd get some water at home when he finished his run. He hoped it would be over soon. He was really, really thirsty.

How ridiculous! He wasn't running, he was sailing. He'd just get a drink right now from the galley. Wilson tried to get up, and couldn't. He looked down at himself and saw the bear had wrapped him like a mummy in cloths, some wet and some dry.

"Are you going to bury me?" he asked, afraid. That made the bear look upset, and then Wilson remembered that this was the bear from the boat, who had kept him from falling in the rough sea.

"Where's the boat?" he asked, but the bear didn't answer, just sort of huffed to itself and stuffed a cold wet cloth into Wilson's armpit. It was pretty uncomfortable, so he tried to take it out, but the bear growled at him. Wilson left the rag where it was.

*************************************************

In the corner the owl puppet from Sesame Street played the saxophone as two crabs danced with two spiders, and a bunch of e. coli bacteria shook to the music. Wilson thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. An alligator rested on the table, its huge gap toothed mouth open wide. That made Wilson a little wary. Then the owl started playing this awful waa-oo, waa-ooo sound, over and over again.

Wilson was very, very glad when that stopped.

There were ants marching back and forth just outside. He didn't know what they were doing there. He didn't want them on his boat. He yelled at them to leave but they ignored him. Wilson decided to go over there and tell them to get out. He sat up and swung his legs out of the bed. He was levering himself upright when there was a big bump. He fell backwards. What the heck had that been? Something had hit the hull--something big.

Scared of foundering, Wilson peered over the side. He saw a large silhouette going under the boat. He recognized it instantly--shark. Big shark. Wilson ran to the starboard side and saw it again, heading straight for him, fast. Wilson grabbed for his car keys to drive away before he shark got him, but they weren't there. Had he forgotten them in the ignition? Wilson ran for the car. He could break the window open and get in, anything, he just had to get away.

A pack of coyotes loped in. In seconds they grabbed him and bore him backwards onto the bed, laughing and yipping and biting at him. Wilson fought but as soon as he hurt one another took its place. They were going to leave him to die like this, tied to a bed with the sun blazing down, and tubes in his arm, and the shark coming.

He panicked, hitting out blindly and screaming for them to let him go. The pack flung themselves upon him furiously, pressing him down until black spots danced in his vision and the boat's warning systems screamed in shrill alarm, and he knew in a minute the shark would come and throw everything in the water and eat him.

There came a bright, bright flash and the door hit the wall with a BANG! And the bear was there scattering the coyotes with his strong, massive paws. They circled, yipping, and Wilson was afraid for him then because he knew how sneaky and vicious coyotes can be, but the bear stood on up his hind legs and roared. The coyotes put their tails between their legs and ran.

The bear came and sat beside Wilson. The shark was gone. The animals were gone. There was just Wilson and the bear.

"Thanks," Wilson said in gratitude. "You're a very nice bear."

The bear growled at that, but softly.

"Your temperature is falling, and your pee is starting to look human again," said the bear, which was a very strange thing for a bear to say. Then he added, "You scared the crap out of me."

"I'm sorry," Wilson said, and he was. He didn't want to worry anyone.

The bear made a dissatisfied, rumbly sound, deep in his chest. He patted Wilson's arm with his huge, furry paw. "We'll talk when you are coherent enough to hold a conversation for ten seconds at a time. Which you will be, thanks to me and no thanks to you."

"Dock the boat," Wilson said, hearing himself slur the words slightly because he was so tired. "Water's too choppy."

The bear smiled a toothy bear smile. "I'll get my minions right on it. Things will make a lot more sense to you in a few hours. Why don't you go to sleep until then?"

"Okay," Wilson said, and he did.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Badge Challenge at Camp Sick!Wilson.
> 
> Disclaimer: House, MD is the property of Heel & Toe Films, ShoreZ Productions, Bad Hat Harry Productions, and Universal Media Studios. I'm not making any money from this.


End file.
